are carbon fiber barrels the wave of the future?

[CTK]

Does a carbon wrapped barrel flex less, more, or same as a traditional steel barrel? Is it more consistent flex and easier to tune? I get the benefit of not having a nose heavy rifle. What I do not know is if the larger contour carbon wrapped barrel offers any grouping benefit over a traditional sporter barrel. This is the question for me. If the answer is no, I would rather have the sporter barrel on a lightweight hunting rifle.

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

Minus weight carbon fiber barrles allow you to run a full size brake and not look stupid. Like it would on a all steel barrel of the same weight.

They appeal to those that may be less physically stronger, youth/older or those that hunt sheep and try to save every bit they can on weight. If you can afford a sheep hunt....cost of a barrel doesn't mean anything to you.

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

Does a carbon wrapped barrel flex less, more, or same as a traditional steel barrel? Is it more consistent flex and easier to tune? I get the benefit of not having a nose heavy rifle. What I do not know is if the larger contour carbon wrapped barrel offers any grouping benefit over a traditional sporter barrel. This is the question for me. If the answer is no, I would rather have the sporter barrel on a lightweight hunting rifle.

If they're any stiffer for the weight it's marginal at best. They will allow you to go with a bigger more efficient brake than what you could fit on an unwrapped one of the same weight

 

[Euler]

Being able to have the proper muzzle diameter for a suppressor on a 22"+ barrel and being reasonably light is the point of CF wrapped barrels for me. I'll keep buying CF barrels for hunting rifles where it makes sense.

 

[Chamberman]

Terribly faulty logic here. The carbon outside is acting like insulation meaning most of the heat is being retained in the barrel liner instead of being dissipated. The liner could be a hundred degrees hotter or more. THIS has to be a contributor towards reduced barrel life. My guess is that if a carbon barrel is too hot to touch, the inner lining might be glowing red hot.

Completely false statement.

Proof Research has proven that their barrels cool 466% faster than standard steel barrels because of their "weave" process and their proprietary resin.

 

[PNWdude67]

Does a carbon wrapped barrel flex less, more, or same as a traditional steel barrel? Is it more consistent flex and easier to tune? I get the benefit of not having a nose heavy rifle. What I do not know is if the larger contour carbon wrapped barrel offers any grouping benefit over a traditional sporter barrel. This is the question for me. If the answer is no, I would rather have the sporter barrel on a lightweight hunting rifle.

In short the answer is yes. CF has a very low Coefficient of expansion nearly zero. So as it heats and cools it doesn't change shape. It has a much higher modulus of elasticity than stainless steel which doesn't mean more accurate but I have found them to have simple nodes and characteristics to heavy contour steel. As far as not conducting heat?? I have read various opinions and studies. The few barrels I have shot heat up very fast to the touch and cool down quickly. More so than the stainless barrels of the same contour or diameter I have. I am no scientist, but this seems to me the heat is being conducted from the bore and not being insulated inside as many comments on this thread suggest. I now want to chamber 6.5 SS or SST in a straight taper 1.25" Contour short 20" Barrel to run with a suppressor for hunting. I think this would offer the optimal rifle system for what I want in the field. Relatively Light, Very stiff, quiet and a conventional overall length with the can.

 

[Pdvdh]

Completely false statement.

Proof Research has proven that their barrels cool 466% faster than standard steel barrels because of their "weave" process and their proprietary resin.

According to who? Proof? The company marketing their barrels for financial profit?

Do you really think their carbon-wrapped barrel will cool precisely 466% faster, when the inner 1/2 of the barrel is made of steel? And the heat has to migrate through the steel core to their carbon fiber wrap before the carbon fiber can possibly have any affect on the rate of heat transfer from the bore to the outer surface of the carbon wrap. What if Proof told you their barrels cooled 1466.27% faster than standard steel barrels? Would you believe that also, without any objective analysis?

Here's an objective analysis and discussion of heat transfer thru carbon fiber wrapped versus steel barrels: https://www.longrangehunting.com/th...h-sendero-contours.195415/page-7#post-1401102

 

[PNWdude67]

Completely false statement.

Proof Research has proven that their barrels cool 466% faster than standard steel barrels because of their "weave" process and their proprietary resin.

Thanks for sharing this! That makes sense with how they feel to the touch and perform in the field. They heat up much faster to external touch and cool down faster than the stainless barrels I shoot.

 

[Pdvdh]

Thanks for sharing this! That makes sense with how they feel to the touch and perform in the field. They heat up much faster to external touch and cool down faster than the stainless barrels I shoot.

Mine doesn't do that. Your's must have the Proof magic.

 

[PNWdude67]

According to who? Proof? The company marketing their barrels for financial profit?

Do you really think their carbon-wrapped barrel will cool precisely 466% faster, when the inner 1/2 of the barrel is made of steel? And the heat has to migrate through the steel core to their carbon fiber wrap before the carbon fiber can possibly have any affect on the rate of heat transfer from the bore to the outer surface of the carbon wrap. What if Proof told you their barrels cooled 1466.27% faster than standard steel barrels? Would you believe that also, without any objective analysis?

Here's an objective analysis and discussion of heat transfer thru carbon fiber versus steel barrels: https://www.longrangehunting.com/th...h-sendero-contours.195415/page-7#post-1401102

Have you shot CF barrels side by side with stainless barrels at the same time and felt the difference? I don't know what it means but the the CF barrel heats up faster to the touch and cools down faster. For the heat to be felt it must be transferred through the carbon right? For it to cool down it must be a cooler temp in the bore as well I would think. This is not scientific just what I have observed. Carbon Fiber heat conductivity varies greatly from what the carbon fiber material is made up of and how it it's laid up and oriented to the source of heat. It can be much more or much less conductive than metal. It's also transfers heat differently than metal.

 

[bdyal1972]

This is a really good question. I kind of assume that they would cool slower than a 'monolithic' steel barrel of equal weight, due to the poor thermal transfer coefficient of the CF.

I doubt we will see many of them in competition, so I feel like it'll be difficult to know what the pros and cons actually are without shooting a few barrels out of oneself.

Are they more stable and easier to tune than a steel.barrel. of similar weight? I can certainly see that argument.

COMPLETELY WRONG

CF WRAPPED BARRELS COOL FASTER!!!

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUNDS PROOVED THAT CONCLUSIVELY IN THE 1990S..

CF BARRELS WILL REPLACE PLAIN STEEL IN ALL BUT THE CHEAPEST AND MOST AFFORDABLE RIFLES IN 20 YEARS

BARREL WEIGHT IS BENEFICIAL IN TARGET RIFLES, HOWEVER

CF WRAPPED RIFLES CAN HAVE 12-18" LONGER BARRELS 2" IN DIAMETER WITH MORE CONCENTRICITY, BETTER COOLING AND LONGER RIFLING LIFE....

SOME LARGER 150 GRAIN LOADS WITH 800+ BC 400 GRAIN BULLETS ARE SEEING MUCH MUCH MUCH BETTER BARREL LIFE FOR 1 AND 2 MILE SHOOTING AND BETTER BRNEFITS HAVING SUPPRESSOR OR BRAKE AN EXTRA 18" FURTHER AWAY AS WELL AS THE BULLET "STABILIZING- GOING TO SLEEP AND STAYING STABLE LONGER!!!!

THE TECHNOLOGY OF CF BARREL WRAPPING IS NOT MATURE. YET


THE BEST IS YET TO COME

 

[Pdvdh]

And the boogeyman is for real also, as proven by Proof and Aberdeen. Applies 100% of the time, all the time, without question.

 

[ptsdvet]

Until recently, carbon fiber barrels have been reserved for the expensive custom rifle market. We are now starting to see more and more barrel makers making these carbon fiber barrels and recently Savage has even released a production rifle with a CF barrel at a bargain if you ask me. Will we see CF barrels hit mainstream rifles? Will they become common place and basically end regular rifle barrels as we have today? Just curious. Partially because will this hurt the value of modern rifles. For example, a rifle from the 90s can still fetch a decent price since there aren't too many differences from them compared to rifles from a few years ago but if CF barrels become common practice, future generations may not want regular barrels making the common rifles now much less value. Thoughts?

The first product I read about was called Gooee raped barrels this at least 10 years ago the proof is in two things Accuracy and barrel temp after 10 rounds from 300 win Mag. The Inventor was able to take old extremely used Mausers, Enfield, and o3 and shoot a tight group from worn-out military weapons that previously shot 5 shot group was at the end of 5 Gal bucket. As barrel temp rises accuracy declines and every round fired creates a wave down the barrel Reduce those factors you create a more accurate rifle!

 

[Stgraves260]

Until recently, carbon fiber barrels have been reserved for the expensive custom rifle market. We are now starting to see more and more barrel makers making these carbon fiber barrels and recently Savage has even released a production rifle with a CF barrel at a bargain if you ask me. Will we see CF barrels hit mainstream rifles? Will they become common place and basically end regular rifle barrels as we have today? Just curious. Partially because will this hurt the value of modern rifles. For example, a rifle from the 90s can still fetch a decent price since there aren't too many differences from them compared to rifles from a few years ago but if CF barrels become common practice, future generations may not want regular barrels making the common rifles now much less value. Thoughts?

I actually prefer none CF barrels. I want the weight in my rifles.